What's unique? The unfolded protein response in plants

Abstract

The investigation of a phenomenon called the unfolded protein response (UPR) started approximately three decades ago, and we now know that the UPR is involved in a number of cellular events among metazoans, higher plants, and algae. The relevance of the UPR in human diseases featuring protein folding defects, such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases, has drawn much attention to the response in medical research to date. While metazoans and plants share similar molecular mechanisms of the UPR, recent studies shed light on the uniqueness of the plant UPR, with plant-specific protein families appearing to play pivotal roles. Given the considerable emphasis on the original discoveries of key factors in metazoans, this review highlights the uniqueness of the plant UPR based on current knowledge.

Keywords: Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis transcription activation factor (ATAF); and cup-shaped cotyledon (CUC) (NAC) transcription factor; bZIP60; domain of unknown function (DUF) 538 protein family; endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress; inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1); no apical meristem (NAM); phosphoinositide signaling; stress granule; unfolded protein response (UPR).